President Michael D Higgins and Taoiseach Enda Kenny led the very large congregation of mourners at the State funeral of Albert Reynolds yesterday.

Four former taoisigh – Liam Cosgrave, John Bruton, Bertie Ahern and Brian Cowen – were present, along with former British prime minister John Major.

Tánaiste Joan Burton attended, along with several members of the Government, including: Minister for Finance Michael Noonan; Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin; Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald; Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan; Minister for Transport Paschal Donohoe; and Attorney General Máire Whelan.

Former president Mary McAleese and her husband Martin attended, as did EU commissioner Máire Geoghegan Quinn, a former Fianna Fáil minister; former tánaiste and Labour Party leader Dick Spring; and another former Labour leader and Government minister Pat Rabbitte.

Martin Fraser, the Department of the Taoiseach secretary general, and Dermot McCarthy, former Department of the Taoiseach secretary general, both attended, as did Áras an Uachtaráin secretary general Art O’Leary.

Current Ministers of State attending included Seán Sherlock (official development assistance, trade promotion and North/South co-operation); Dara Murphy (European affairs and data protection); Damien English (skills, research and innovation); and Jimmy Deenihan ( diaspora).

PD representation

Former Fine Gael TD Tom Enright was present, as was Dick Burke, former Fine Gael minister and European commissioner.

The former Green Party leader John Gormley attended.

From the Council of State came Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Mrs Justice Susan Denham; Ms Justice Catherine McGuinness, former Supreme Court judge; Mr Justice Thomas Finlay; Michael Farrell; and Sally Mulready.

The acting Garda Commissioner, Noírín O’Sullivan, attended.

Church figures included Fr Aidan Troy; Msgr Lorcan O’Brien; Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin Most Rev Dr Michael Jackson; Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland Rev Michael Barry; and president of the Methodist Church in Ireland Dr Heather Morris.

Media representatives included Noel Curran, RTÉ director general; Kevin Bakhurst, deputy director general of RTÉ and managing director of RTÉ news and current affairs; Stephen Collins, Political Editor of The Irish Times representing Editor Kevin O’Sullivan; Sam Smyth; Seán O’Rourke; and Anne Doyle. Noel Whelan, barrister and Irish Times columnist, was also present.

Seán Duignan and Mandy Johnson, former government press secretaries, attended.